41 Years – The Secret of Life

“Do you know the secret of life? It’s “one thing” – just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean shit. What’s the one thing? That’s what you have to find out.”
Those are lines from the movie City Slickers when old-time Cowboy Curly is life counseling City Slicker Mitch.

This year would’ve been my 41st emergency service anniversary along with my marriage of the same time. I retired this past year. I must have done some things right to thrive for that long in two challenging ventures. So, if I had to boil it down – like Curly – to one thing, what would that one thing be?

It would be “harmony.”

The definition of harmony that I like best is – “A combination of sounds considered pleasing to the ear.” This musical definition is one that can apply to every situation – the smallest to the largest, the least fortunate to most fortunate.

Music is something that you can produce with the smallest of resources to the grandest. You can have a full orchestra accompaniment or you can sing a duet with no instruments at all.

Somebody famous once said, “If you can’t be happy with what you have, how could you be happy with more?” To me what this means is happiness should be happening all along during your trip. You won’t have much fun – possibly none at all – if happiness doesn’t come until you reach some grand attainment.